Dear Friends,
Full moon just now rising,
Cold Moon this Moon rising
Still night still Moon rising
Full Moon at last rising
First frosts just now falling,
Cold frost, this frost falling
Still Night still moon rising
First Frost at last falling.
Old Earth just now slowing
Old Earth this Earth slowing
Still night still Moon rising
Old Earth at last slowing
Last life just now sleeping
Cold life, this life sleeping
Still night still Moon rising
Last life at last sleeping
(from Autumn Lullabye for the Moon, by Thomas Ahern)
What comes next?
For the past 10,12,15? years we have celebrated
Harvest Day at school and in the Gardens.
For Kinder, 1st and 2nd Grades,
we roast our own-grown potatoes,
and drink spiced cider,
we sit around the log circle,
under our grandmother / father oaks,
and tell the story of this mysterious season:
about how we are truly and really all One in Nature,
that the dying reappear in the living,
and bits of us exist in everything,
just as bits of everything live within us.
It is with special appreciation,
and Reverence that we will partake in this ritual
this coming Friday,
Harvest Day, October 26.
I will be scheduling the 1st grade and Kindergarten
to visit the garden to harvest potatoes this week,
explore the compost, sing songs and tell stories.
Stay tuned for those times and places.
Help would be greatly appreciated.
After harvest, the potatoes are put on trays to dry,
then brushed clean,
then washed and dried,
and then, on Thursday they can be cut and wrapped in foil.
Early Friday fires will be set,
in the pit by the log circle,
and/or maybe in the pizza oven,
to bake the potatoes.
We need about 300 portions for our young children:
hot steaming potatoes.
We will set up serving tables to butter and salt the potatoes,
purple pink, yellow and white,
then serve our students cider while they sit around the logs.
And I get to tell the story.
Please let me know if you can help with any of these preparations.
The potato beds themselves need to be carefully tilled to allow the little ones to "discover" the potatoes below. The potato patch by the sports field needs the cages dis-assembled, the straw raked away, and, again, the soil carefully loosened.
On Monday morning, Oct 22, I invite any and all to come to the Conference Room to help paste up our leaf collections for the 1st grade. Stay for an hour or more, or come as you can during the week. I will be there from 8:15 - 10:00.
On Tuesday morning 2nd Grade, Room 111, will travel to the riverbank at Berteau Street to do leaf rubbings, weather station, and observations of the flowers and wildlife. We leave Waters at 8:30, and return by 10:30. Please join us.
Wednesday night is one of the few remaining Garden nights, as 5:00 until dark shrinks in duration. Join us for the many remaining gardening tasks we need to complete, before the ground freezes. Please join our garden email list to be part of the garden community and learn what you need to know to be an advocate for green space and ecology
from our garden coordinator, Julie Peterson:
For those of you who've been out of touch with the crisis of the last week, please visit our WatersEcology.org website to catch up and sign up so you can be an advocate. We barely averted massive drilling in the garden this week, preparation to destroy the garden and the 4 ancient oaks, each of which predate our city. It took many, many students, many community members far and wide, many gardeners past and present, many creative actions, many advocates in many positions to bring together the force it took to get CPS to look and listen. Just think how hard it is to protect a place of beauty, how difficult it is to protect the undocumented, those on the fringes. Let's band together and learn more about how to protect the vulnerable and stand peacefully to protect our vulnerable earth and peoples.
Many Thanks,
Mr. Leki
Full moon just now rising,
Cold Moon this Moon rising
Still night still Moon rising
Full Moon at last rising
First frosts just now falling,
Cold frost, this frost falling
Still Night still moon rising
First Frost at last falling.
Old Earth just now slowing
Old Earth this Earth slowing
Still night still Moon rising
Old Earth at last slowing
Last life just now sleeping
Cold life, this life sleeping
Still night still Moon rising
Last life at last sleeping
(from Autumn Lullabye for the Moon, by Thomas Ahern)
What comes next?
For the past 10,12,15? years we have celebrated
Harvest Day at school and in the Gardens.
For Kinder, 1st and 2nd Grades,
we roast our own-grown potatoes,
and drink spiced cider,
we sit around the log circle,
under our grandmother / father oaks,
and tell the story of this mysterious season:
about how we are truly and really all One in Nature,
that the dying reappear in the living,
and bits of us exist in everything,
just as bits of everything live within us.
It is with special appreciation,
and Reverence that we will partake in this ritual
this coming Friday,
Harvest Day, October 26.
I will be scheduling the 1st grade and Kindergarten
to visit the garden to harvest potatoes this week,
explore the compost, sing songs and tell stories.
Stay tuned for those times and places.
Help would be greatly appreciated.
After harvest, the potatoes are put on trays to dry,
then brushed clean,
then washed and dried,
and then, on Thursday they can be cut and wrapped in foil.
Early Friday fires will be set,
in the pit by the log circle,
and/or maybe in the pizza oven,
to bake the potatoes.
We need about 300 portions for our young children:
hot steaming potatoes.
We will set up serving tables to butter and salt the potatoes,
purple pink, yellow and white,
then serve our students cider while they sit around the logs.
And I get to tell the story.
Please let me know if you can help with any of these preparations.
The potato beds themselves need to be carefully tilled to allow the little ones to "discover" the potatoes below. The potato patch by the sports field needs the cages dis-assembled, the straw raked away, and, again, the soil carefully loosened.
On Monday morning, Oct 22, I invite any and all to come to the Conference Room to help paste up our leaf collections for the 1st grade. Stay for an hour or more, or come as you can during the week. I will be there from 8:15 - 10:00.
On Tuesday morning 2nd Grade, Room 111, will travel to the riverbank at Berteau Street to do leaf rubbings, weather station, and observations of the flowers and wildlife. We leave Waters at 8:30, and return by 10:30. Please join us.
Wednesday night is one of the few remaining Garden nights, as 5:00 until dark shrinks in duration. Join us for the many remaining gardening tasks we need to complete, before the ground freezes. Please join our garden email list to be part of the garden community and learn what you need to know to be an advocate for green space and ecology
from our garden coordinator, Julie Peterson:
For those of you who've been out of touch with the crisis of the last week, please visit our WatersEcology.org website to catch up and sign up so you can be an advocate. We barely averted massive drilling in the garden this week, preparation to destroy the garden and the 4 ancient oaks, each of which predate our city. It took many, many students, many community members far and wide, many gardeners past and present, many creative actions, many advocates in many positions to bring together the force it took to get CPS to look and listen. Just think how hard it is to protect a place of beauty, how difficult it is to protect the undocumented, those on the fringes. Let's band together and learn more about how to protect the vulnerable and stand peacefully to protect our vulnerable earth and peoples.
Many Thanks,
Mr. Leki
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